1:35 German WWII Notek Head Lights

A cover that lets only a strip through

The front light for blacked-out driving had the task of lighting a few meters ahead of the vehicle while not being visible from the air. It solved that with a cover that hid the whole reflector and left only a horizontal slit with a hood free. The light thus fell on the road and practically none of it reached the sky. The cover tended to be hinged or removable, so the same light could be used in normal operation as well.

An injected part copes with this shape with difficulty. The lengthwise slot should be open, but a mold cannot reach into such a narrow opening, so a blind groove or even just an engraved line comes about. Close up it is clear that the light lets nothing through, which is a shame on a component whose whole purpose is exactly that slit.

The part offered returns the proportion of the cover, the hood above the slot and the shape of the body and the supporting arm. It is fitted on a fender or on the front of a vehicle once the original molding is sanded away. The effect can be completed with a drop of gloss clear varnish in the slot and gentle lightening of the edges, so that the cover stands out of the shadow.

What is interesting is that this element survived the war. A number of machines taken over into postwar service kept the cover, so a modeler building vehicles of the 1950s can reach for the same accessory.

Before bonding it is worth considering whether the cover will be in place or folded away. The folded position reveals the reflector and lets a drop of varnish be put into it, while the closed one keeps the silhouette that most period photographs of night driving show. Both are correct, and it is exactly such a detail that tells a model from dozens of others.